So much for the power of blogging, but employees who are not careful on what they post on blog sites may end up losing their jobs if they are caught incidentally by their employers when they post something negative about their company and workplace.

Many would say, this is not something in the employee handbook, but then again, this can always be amended at anytime that companies and organizations would wish.

“If there is a negative impact on the organisation’s corporate image which is so serious that it breaches the implied term of mutual trust and confidence, the employee could be dismissed for gross misconduct,” she warned.

Cautioning employers to pay attention to worker’s blogs, Dowling added that blogs could provide evidence of other conduct issues, uncover workplace discrimination or bullying or even leak confidential financial information or new product details.

With the prospect of supremely cheesed off employees whistleblowing dodgy company practices, Dowling added that, “Employers need to ensure that they carefully consider the impact of blogging on their organisation and take appropriate steps to minimise any potential risk.”

Source: Digital Lifestyles. Blathering Work Bloggers Risk The Boot

[tags]blog news, blogger, problogger[/tags]

Why do you publish photos or articles on the web if you don’t want people using or criticizing them? This is perhaps one of the standing issues that caters to the hyperlinking issue of blogs today.

We all know that blogs are more of critics at work. While some may provide good viewpoints, there are also bad ones. People may use photos or images from published sites but the fact is, a link back is a form of respect to which owner’s rights are still being observed. But for some people, this does not seem to be enough.

For purposes of not wanting people to “borrow” or “use” your stuff, then why publish them on the web? Keep them on your computer or your digital camera if you don’t want people using them!

He’s facing three lawsuits for copyright infringement, but that’s OK with notorious celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, who sees himself as something of an activist for bloggers’ rights.

“In a perfect world, you’d rather not be sued than be sued, but I think from his standpoint all these lawsuits essentially stem from the same exact issue,” his lawyer, Bryan Freedman, tells The Showbuzz. “It’s the rights of bloggers to the fair use of published photos that are on the Internet and the right to use them for satire and commentary. I think Perez is excited to be the one that makes the law in this area and is fully prepared to go all the way if he needs to in order to make that law.”

Perez, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, takes celebrity photos, doodles on them, posts them on his popular blog, perezhilton.com and adds commentary.

“He uses them in a transformative way and then opens a dialog of commentary. Whether you like the commentary or not is a different story,” said Freedman.

“I totally disagree, obviously, that what he does constitutes fair use,” Brandy Navarre, VP of X17, which sued Lavandeira in November for more than $7.5 million, told The Showbuzz. “I don’t feel that what he does qualifies (as satire). These are not all newsworthy photos, (and) he’s not altering the photos enough to make a difference. Sometimes just writing a question mark isn’t satirizing significantly enough to make a difference. And the volume at which he uses the images is out of bounds.”

Universal City Studios Productions LLP filed a lawsuit against Lavandeira in February, claiming a stolen image of a topless Jennifer Aniston from the set of her movie “The Breakup” was posted on Lavandeira’s site.

In late April, five photo agencies joined together to sue Lavandeira for $7 million for using their photos and videos.

His lawyer argues that Lavandeira has merely used photos that were already published elsewhere on the Web.

“If it’s not already out on the Internet, it’s protected,” argues Freedman. “He’s not in the business of taking watermarks or anything like that. I can’t for the life for me understand how a photographer has been hurt when the photograph has already been published on the Internet.”

Navarre claims Lavandeira’s actions have hurt her company’s bottom line.

Source: Perez Hilton, Defender Of Bloggers Rights?

[tags]blog news, blogger news, disputes, copyrights, infringement, hyperlinks, links, violations[/tags]

For the benefit of people who have not yet been heard of this virtual world where they can portray anyone of their chosen character, Second Life is a virtual online world game that allows people to interact, explore and even make money if a person knows the ins and outs of the game. The game has been totally addictive, making people more or less glued to their stations practically the whole day. People are logged on in long hours since outside the usual commercial interaction that they make, they can earn a living while being online.

But many people have questioned the consistency since Second Life has been down for some times, making it doubtful if they can sustain the number of subscribers logged in to play the game.

However, updates have to be made and patches employed. This is one reason for the downtimes subscribers are experiencing and rightfully so. If people want to get their money’s worth, then continuous development and improvements towards the game must be done.

“The main issue raised in the original blog entry on Gamer.Blorge.com was that Second Life is experiencing six hours of downtime. To hear other blogs, like TechCrunch, position it, this is kind of a noteworthy occurrence.

The truth is that Second Life is frequently down on Wednesdays, because that’s when its publisher, Linden Lab, releases updates to its client software.

And it’s true that some users are upset about the downtime. But they’re also upset every time the “grid” goes down for the several hours it takes to complete an upgrade. After all, there are countless virtual businesses that can’t sell things, and countless people who can’t get in-world to do whatever it is they want to do.

For many longtime Second Life users, the issue this raises is not about any individual shutdowns of the grid, but rather that it has to happen so frequently. The Second Life software is built in such a way that the constant bug fixes, updates and new features can really only be implemented through these periodic updates, and the unfortunate side effect is semi-regular downtime. “ – What is the extent of ‘Second Life’ problems?

[tags]second life, blogger, virtual world, social sites, socializing[/tags]

It has been an issue that has been longed debated on. Bloggers are not officially categorized as journalists. The directives may be the same at some point but the fact remains, the method of composing articles and facts in proper format for people to understand needs to have differentiating factors.

Bloggers can be better than journalists and vice versa. However, no one has been given the proper authorization to differentiate both. For regions such as Hawaii, they can classify a blogger and a journalist and point out their differences. Here is an overview of this latest trend.

Hawaii is one 19 states that does not have a journalist shield law, designed to protect a reporter’s confidential sources. If Hawaii Circuit Court Judge Gary Chang refuses to accept Zimmerman’s claim that she is a legitimate journalist, the ruling could set a dangerous precedent for other bloggers.

There are two sides to the argument. The plaintiff’s lawyer is trying to convince the judge that accepting bloggers as journalists would create a big loophole.

There are a lot more nuances to the case, so I suggest you read the whole summary.

I’d like to think that Marketing Pilgrim would be able to claim journalist privileges, based upon the fact that we are a legitimate news source, regardless of the fact that the site is organized like a blog. However, I agree that you can’t extend that same privilege to everyone, just because they have a blog. The courts needs to establish some kind of criteria for what makes a blogger a journalist.

What criteria do you think should make a blogger a journalist? – Hawaii Court to Decide if a Blogger is a Journalist

[tags]blogger, blog news, blog jobs, journalists, problogger, problogger jobs[/tags]

Blogs have become more of rumor mills to date, being the premier source of information before they hit the news stands and channels. However, consistency is something up for debate and for some, total understanding of the whole ordeal may eventually lead to something disastrous.

This is clearly the issue regarding the release of the iPhone launch originally posted at Endgadget. Apparently, the tip turned out to be a false alarm and this eventually affected the stock trading of Apple which tumbled by 3 percent and losing billions in the process.

Hence, blogs may not be consistent or be used as a means of forecasting launches and predictions. Such was learned the hard way. Here are some excerpts from the blog blunder:

Stock Manipulation Via Fake News –- Nothing New
I agree with others that speculate Engadget was played by a trader who knew that this story would have a negative impact on Apple stock. My guess is they used this rumor to short Apple stock and mint a fortune.

Blog bashers will point to Engadget’s flub for years to come. But it’s important to remember “traditional” media has fallen for similar chicanery before to.

In 2000 Emulex, a networking firm, saw its stock take a nosedive from a morning high of $113.06 to a low of $43 by lunch time. What prompted the stock to drop was headlines that appeared on major wire service proclaiming: “Emulex Announces Revised Earnings; SEC Launches Investigation Into Accounting Practices. Paul Folino Steps Down As CEO.”

The story was fake. It was planted by a then 23-year-old Mark Jakob, a former employee of a wire service called Internet Wire. The story was planted by Jakob on the wire and it was picked up by major news outlets as real. The FBI investigated and arrested Jakob. Published reports say Jakob made $250,000 from his scheme, money he later had to return.

If the Apple/Engadget incident is a case of stock manipulation than this is a coming-of-age moment for Wall Street miscreants who target blogs. The success found with dropping Apple stock will only fuel the cottage industry of manipulating stock prices through e-mail, message boards, and blogs. With Engadget the scammer(s) landed a big fish. You better believe they are thinking about a new stock/blog target right now. – False alarm: iPhone NOT delayed until October, Leopard NOT delayed again until January

[tags]blogger news, blog news, iPhone, apple, blunders, false alarms[/tags]

Blogging has been encouraged as a means of letting out clogged ideas in the mind of people but to date, most of the scattered ideas have become more of a nuisance rather than a helpful tool in the employee development of most companies. Such has been notable in the turnover rates of employees who find them looking for other jobs mainly because their employers are not to forgiving when they are able to read what they are sharing or hiding to express.

Some companies have gone to the extent of peeping into the personal journals and sometimes, these may bring back unlikely reactions. These reactions may be deemed as just cause for their termination, something that is clearly to watch out for on the part of the employees as a whole.

“A lot of people think they’re protected by the First Amendment in cases where they’re not,” said David Williams, a partner at law firm Morris James LLP in Wilmington, Del., and a past chairman of the employment and labor law section of the Delaware State Bar Association.

Union collective bargaining agreements and individual employment contracts generally say a worker can be fired only for what is known as “just cause.”

Yet, 92 percent of private-sector workers aren’t covered by collective bargaining, and employment contracts usually are limited to high-level executives.

Even though in Illinois, a company has the right to terminate an employee at will, one local attorney believes that without a policy in place, a worker should not be fired for speaking out on an outside-of-the-workplace issue.

“If there is no agreement, then in my opinion, you can say and do whatever you want,” said Al Williams, a Dixon attorney who specializes in workman’s compensation cases.

Broad statements on workplace free speech can be hard to make though, according to Williams, because company policies and situations can be so varied.

“It is very case-by-case and deal-by-deal, but an employer has to give a reason for firing you, they can’t just do it,” Williams said. – Let the bloggers beware: Companies’ rules may restrict what employees can and can’t say

[tags]blogger, problogger, employee rights, collective bargaining, CBA[/tags]

In the same way that journalists are being given protection rights, bloggers are now being given the same right in the height of some controversies on freedom of the blogs with regards to how bloggers carry out their opinionated views. Such has become an issue and has produced various conflicts left and right. With the new proposed bill, their protection can now be covered, something that has been long overdue.

The House of Representatives has amended the Free Flow of Information Act of 2007 to include provisions to protect bloggers from being required to divulge their sources under certain situations in the same way as journalists. Instead of requiring journalists to be tied to a news organization, the bill now defines “journalism” to focus more on the function of the job: “the gathering, preparing, collecting, photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting, or publishing of news or information that concerns local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public.”

Introduced last week by Representative Rick Boucher (D-VA), the bill is meant to offer a federal version of reporter “shield” laws that are in place in some 32 states in the US. Legislation at state level has struggled in the past to determine exactly how to define journalism, with bloggers who don’t often write for traditional news organizations finding themselves in a murky gray area. However, in 2006, a California court ruled in favor of two rumor sites (often considered “blogs”)—AppleInsider and Powerpage—after they divulged details about unreleased Apple products. The ruling concluded that there was no relevant legal distinction between journalistic blogging and journalism when it came to the shield law.

The Free Flow of Information Act was reworked after its introduction with the specific intent of including bloggers under the broader definition of journalism. According to a section-by-section analysis of the bill, “The act would apply to web logs (‘blogs’) that engage in journalism.” Although the law is not likely meant to include every person who writes on the Internet, it doesn’t create a litmus test for what constitutes “engaging in journalism.” – New bill to give bloggers same shield law protection as journalists

[tags]blogger news, blog news, blog freedom, journalism, newspaper[/tags]

Blogs have been getting the various criticisms for their open minded input of thoughts and for one yellow journalist, hitting on blogs as a hopeless form of ticket towards getting into the journalism biz was clearly stated.

But the question is, do bloggers have that drive to grab a career in journalism? Perhaps not. Blogging is freedom to express but this does not mean that they are inclined towards pursuing a journalism career. Threatened perhaps? Whatever the case may be, blogging should not be considered as a form of stepping stone towards journalism and this attack is becoming more of a defense mechanism for journalists who seem to feel a threat from bloggers who simply want their voices heard.

Eric Berlin calls Bullard’s column “a hateful, condescending piece” and suggests Bullard turn on his brain before attacking the blogosphere.

Vinny Lingham calls Bullard

a “fool with no understanding of new media and it’s impact on society….This is exactly the mentality that is leading to the decline of offline print as a source of information, because the people entrenched in the offline world are so resistant to change, they cannot keep up with the times.”

Vincent Maher calls the column “a dazzling display of arrogance.”

Says Pierre deVos, “Bullard seems to be rather kind, actually.” But then he notes:

[Bullard] claims that the content in the Sunday Times is of a certain quality because it has been through editing processes. But one only has to skim that newspapers pages to be made aware of the sorry state of journalism in South Africa. Sometimes I wonder whether those people get paid to write so badly about such brain curdling boring issues. The New York Times it ain’t.”
Ironically, on the same day, The Times also published “Business Missing Out on Blogging,” which notes:
“Blogs tend to be rich in fresh information and relevant news. More importantly, this information can be commented on by the people who visit the blog site. So it is not just a flat brochure, like a website…” – “Professional” Journalist Spews Hateful Attack on Blogosphere

Call it crazy, but the widespread crackdown of people abusing the law and taking them toward higher levels for that matter has totally gone out of hand. The latest blow was the reported imprisonment of an Egyptian journalist named Huwaida Mitwalli for reporting a supposed torture in Egypt.

This is totally outrageous and surely violates the acclaimed freedom of the press. Authorities have had their problems on upholding the law and properly identifying the proper means of holding back information. While everyone knows that hot news is the actual bread and butter of journalists, being convicted for reporting something that is indeed factual is totally ridiculous today. Things are simply becoming personal and abusive in any nation at this point.

The sentencing of Al-Jazeera journalist Huwaida Taha Mitwalli to six months in prison for her reporting on torture in Egypt makes a mockery of World Press Freedom Day, Human Rights Watch said today.

Mitwalli, an Egyptian national who also reports for the London-based daily Quds al-Arabi, was convicted by a Cairo criminal court on May 2 for “possessing and giving false pictures about the internal situation in Egypt that could undermine the dignity of the country” in connection with an Al-Jazeera documentary about torture in Egypt. The court also fined her 20,000 Egyptian pounds (US$3,518).

“Egypt’s sorry record of torture is only made worse by its practice of punishing journalists who dare to speak about it,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch. – Egypt: Prison for Al-Jazeera Journalist Who Exposed Torture

[tags]blog news, blogger news, freedom of the press, politics, law[/tags]

In the same way that blogging has become a freedom of speech the same has been given to the responsibility that arise from making such remarks. All bloggers know that they are responsible for all the remarks that they make and the impact it would have and corresponding penalties that include imprisonment are included.

LONDON April 20 (UPI)—The European Union’s Racism and Xenophobia Directive could cause a blow to Europe’s blogging community, making them directly responsible for their posts.
Bloggers face three-year jail sentences if their remarks on the Internet are “carried out in a manner likely to incite violence or hatred,” Britain’s Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

“There is potential for this to have worldwide application. Free speech is at the center of blogging. Part of the reason bloggers can tell the truth is because it is difficult to pin them down. This law tries to do it,” said Chris Mounsey, 29, and the man behind “The Devil’s Kitchen” blog.

The new laws are set to be in place by 2010.

It is not only bloggers who are upset about the new laws, the Telegraph said.

British Shadow Home Secretary David Davis, said: “We don’t need yet more law to combat racial hatred and incitement to violence. We already have British law dating back to 1861.” – Blogging in Britain has become a privilege

[tags]racism, blogging, blogger, problogger, current events[/tags]